Thread: NE-Omaha Man Sentenced In Illegal Driver's License Ring

Omaha Man Sentenced In Illegal Driver's License Ring
POSTED: 9:15 pm CDT June 25, 2008
UPDATED: 9:35 pm CDT June 25, 2008

OMAHA, Neb. -- An Omaha man who helped run a national ring to get driver's licenses for illegal immigrants has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Saidjon Ibragimov pleaded guilty in federal court and is the fourth man convicted in the conspiracy.

Investigators said a man in New Jersey would line up illegals who wanted licenses, and put them in touch with Ibragamov.

A DMV employee in Florence told investigators in 2006 that a man who went by the name of Jon offered to pay her for Nebraska licenses. "Jon" turned out to Ibragimov, and immigration agents recorded conversations he later had with the employee.

"Every time the DMV employee spoke with any of the suspects, we had her wired up and we recorded the conversations," said Brent Morral of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The tapes recorded Ibragimov agreeing to pay $200 each for a license.

When Ibragimov's brother showed up at the DMV office with an illegal immigrant in May 2007, agents were watching. They saw him hand over a pink envelope with $200 inside.

Investigators said Ibragimov brought people from countries all over the world to Omaha to get illegal licenses and let them stay at his apartment. He gave the DMV agent $4,000 and seven passports, and implied that he could line up 100,000 customers. He said unless Nebraska changed its license design, business would be steady.

"If it's going to stay keep, being like that, keep coming like that," he was taped saying, "you're going to be a millionaire."

Agents arrested Ibragimov and 14 other people two days after that conversation took place. In addition to the four people convicted in the conspiracy, nine others face fraud and bribery charges.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said none of the men are suspected in any kind of terrorist involvement.

http://www.ketv.com/news/16712772/detail.html

Illegal immigrant ID scheme nets prison time
Published Thursday June 26, 2008
Illegal immigrant ID scheme nets prison time
BY DANNY VALENTINE
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

The co-leader of an operation that obtained driver's licenses for illegal immigrants was sentenced to 18 months in prison this week.

Saidjon Ibragimov was charged with trying to bribe a Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles employee to issue licenses for illegal immigrants, according to court documents.

Ibragimov, 22, of Omaha was the fourth and final member of the operation to be convicted in federal court in Nebraska. Between Nov. 30, 2006, and June 13, 2007, the operation transported 15 illegal immigrants from New Jersey to Nebraska to purchase licenses.

The outfit charged between $2,500 and $3,000 apiece for the documents. Ibragimov told officials he would pocket $1,000 and send the rest to Edison, N.J., to an Indian national known to Ibragimov only as "Jaja."

In November 2006, Ibragimov approached a Nebraska motor vehicles employee assigned to an Omaha testing station and sought the employee's help in getting licenses for his customers. The customers were primarily from India.

Ibragimov, a native of Tajikistan, had gotten to know the state worker because Ibragimov served as a translator at the office.

In taped telephone calls, Ibragimov reportedly told the employee that he would provide a steady supply of immigrants and that they each could make large amounts of money from the scheme.

Authorities arrested Ibragimov after observing him take an immigrant to the DMV.

A search of Ibragimov's residence turned up $19,452, which authorities said was his share of the operation.

Following his time in jail, Ibragimov will serve three years of supervised release.


• Contact the writer: 444-1062, danny.valentine@owh.com
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Don't see any reference in either story to whether Ibragimov is a citizen or here on a visa. Is supervised release the same as parole?...or code for illegal who is being allowed to remain in U.S. If he is here legally but not a citizen, why isn't he being deported? Do any ALIPAC'ers have any ideas out there?

An Omaha man, Saidjon Ibragimov, pleaded guilty in federal court as part of a national ring to get driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. As the co-leader of the operation, Ibragimov, 22, of Omaha was convicted in federal court in Nebraska for transporting 15 illegal immigrants from New Jersey to Nebraska to purchase licenses, between Nov. 30, 2006, and June 13, 2007. Ibragimov was the fourth and final member of the operation to be convicted in the conspiracy and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Ibragimov was charged with bribing a Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles employee in Omaha who told authorities in 2006 about a man who offered to pay her for state driver's licenses. As it turns out, Ibragimov, a native of Tajikistan, had gotten to know the state worker because he served as a translator at the office.

Investigators said Ibragimov brought people from countries all over the world to Omaha to get illegal licenses and let them stay at his apartment. He gave the DMV agent $4,000 and seven passports, and told the employee he would bring Chinese, Mongolian and Tajik nationals from Chicago and the Nebraska area to the office to obtain licenses. Investigators secretly recorded subsequent conversations between Ibragimov and the DMV employee.

Agents arrested Ibragimov and 14 other people two days after their last taped conversation took place. In addition to the four people convicted in the conspiracy, nine others were charged with fraud and bribery.

At the time of the arrests, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department, which participated in the eight-month investigation, placed detainers on 10. That meant the agency suspected the men were illegally in the country.

Following his time in jail, Ibragimov will serve three years of supervised release.

http://nebraskaobserver.wordpress.com/w ... ess.com%2F

They should strip him of citizenship, and deport him!!